‘Designated Survivor’ Season 1 Recap: What Happened In Episode 5? Agent Hannah And Aaron Make Shocking Discoveries In ‘The Mission’

“Designated Survivor” finally got over questioning Tom Kirkman’s presidency and started showing Kiefer Sutherland’s character make tough decisions. Episode 5 of the ABC TV show kicked off right where episode 4 left off with the President learning that the terrorist who supposedly bombed the Captiol, Majid Nassar, is hiding in Algeria.

No longer interested in diplomatic talks with the Algerian president, Kirkman declares war and does what should be done: He gets Nassar (Nicholas Massouh). But episode 5 wasn’t only about capturing Nassar. Here’s what happened in “The Mission”:

Difficult Decisions

President Kirkman learns that Nassar has moved from an abandoned building to a hospital housing sick patients, women and children. They certainly cannot bomb the place and take down Nassar. So Kirkman decides to go with his only other option of capturing the terrorist: Send a Navy SEAL team to extract Nassar.

However, that means putting American men’s lives in jeopardy and this decision weighs heavy on him. Yes, Navy SEALs are trained every day to conduct such missions, but they are also men with women and children waiting for them to come home safely.

Kirkman pays the leader of the mission – Navy SEAL leader Max Clarkson – a visit and learns from him that the odds of completing the mission successfully are 50/50. Still, he needs to do this.

Agent Hannah Wells Is On To Something

While the SEAL team is getting ready to capture the man who supposedly bombed the Capitol, FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) is busy finding room 105. She got a mysterious call stating that she should find room 105. It will help her learn the truth about Congressman Peter MacLeish (Ashley Zukerman). However, it’s important to note that the person who called could be the one who plotted the bombings. Maybe the FBI should be more suspicious of mysterious phone calls?

Anyway, Hannah dutifully goes to the tech team to get blueprints of the Captiol but soon learns that about two and a half months ago, the building was renovated. All renovations are kept secret as per a law passed by the Congress in World War II. So Hannah needs to go to a Congressman to get access to the blueprints.

“Designated Survivor” finally answered the question of whether Congressman Peter MacLeish is telling the truth or not in Season 1, episode 5.Photo: ABC/Ben Mark Holzberg

Hookstraten Is Extremely Devious

Meanwhile, in the White House, Kirkman honors all the first responders of the Capitol bombing and applauds Peter MacLeish for being the only survivor of the devastating attack.

Additionally, MacLeish shows his support to Tom. When Kirkman calls Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen) and Congressman MacLeish to a meeting and informs them that he has deployed a SEAL team to get Nassar, MacLeish lends his full support. Of course, devious Kimble shows her full support but makes it clear that if the operation fails, she will take him down.

Hannah Investigates

Meanwhile, Hannah approaches Hookstraten and gets access to the blueprints and recent renovations done inside the Captiol. She makes a shocking discovering. Turns out that room 105 was renovated and became a bomb shelter. All the workers who renovated the room died within two weeks under mysterious causes. What’s more, MacLeish was in room 105 seconds before the bomb went off.

MacLeish knew that the Capitol was going to be bombed. That is the reason why he was in room 105 a.k.a. the bomb shelter.

Aaron Makes A Shocking Discovery

Fortunately, the Navy SEAL team successfully capture Nassar but with a price: Max Clarkson died while shielding two children from a barrage of bullets. Kirkman is upset.

However, there’s little time to be upset because Kirkman needs to think about the Congress. The House now only consists of two people. Since Hookstraten is a thorn by his side, Kirkman offers MacLeish the Speaker of the House position. He declines the promotion stating that he came to Washington, D.C. to serve his country. He doesn’t crave power.

Impressed that MacLeish is just like him, Tom decides to offer him the Vice Presidency. Seriously Kirkman needs to talk to Hannah STAT!

Remember how Aaron (Adan Canto) hired a private investigator in order to get dirt on Kirkman and his family? Turns out that the Chief of Staff was just doing his job and conducting opposition research. He needs to know everything he can about the First Family. And he stumbles on a shocking secret.